(2009-11-22) Gruber Lite2nd Computer

John Gruber notes that NetBook-s and Mobile-s don't have to be "full-featured" PC-s if you acknowledge/embrace the idea of them not being one's primary computer. The idea of a computer that does a lot less - leaving out even things you consider essential, because you can still do those things on your other, primary computer - is liberating. That's the opportunity, and that's the idea behind Google Chrome [[OS]] and Litl and even Android and IPhone OS. Long-term, there's no denying that Google is steering toward a future where typical users have no "primary" computer, but instead where every computer is just a terminal to Web-based software running on servers across the Internet. But there's an opportunity today for secondary computers that offer just a subset of the functionality of MacOs X and MsWindows, especially if they don't just do less, but (like the iPhone) do less really well.